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Car bomb explores three soldiers killed { May 6 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6015-2004May6.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6015-2004May6.html
Car Bomb Explodes in Baghdad
By Scott Wilson and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 6, 2004; 6:55 AM
BAGHDAD, May 6 -- Three U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate attacks Wednesday night and Thursday morning, among them a massive suicide car bomb explosion near a checkpoint leading to the headquarters of the U.S. occupation authority.
The deaths brought the number of American soldiers killed in the first 6 days of May to 23.
The blast, which occurred around 7:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday), killed one soldier and also killed at least five Iraqi civilians and injured at least two dozen, a U.S. military spokesman said. Witnesses at the scene said the bomber was among those killed.
The explosion destroyed several vehicles and sent black smoke billowing over the city during morning rush hour as helicopters, Army Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles cordoned off the area.
Witnesses said the suicide bomber was driving a white Toyota and that the driver made three passes past the checkpoint before speeding toward the U.S. troops manning it. The checkpoint is at the 14th of July Bridge, which leads into the fortified Green Zone where the occupation authority works.
Each morning Iraqis who work for the Coalition Provisional Authority line up to go through this checkpoint to jobs either in construction or cleaning. The driver blew himself up right beside a line of these workers.
"They threatened the laborers in this neighborhood," said Hussein Ali, 24, who was at the scene of the bombing looking for two cousins and brothers who headed to work 15 minutes before the blast. "If they do this work, they will kill them."
Ali said that members of rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr's militia, known as the Mahdi Army, have been threatening people orally and distributing pamphlets to people who live in his neighborhood and work for the U.S. Occupation Authority. He said his brother, who works as a cleaner inside the Green Zone, told him he had even been threatened by other Iraqi's working inside Coalition Headquarters.
Shopkeepers swept up their shattered windows within a block of the blast. "All these people killed and injured and they have families to support," said Hassan Abed, 20, who is unemployed and lives in the neighborhood. He said that when he heard the explosion, "my heart fell down."
Hours before the blast, just before midnight in Baghdad, two soldiers died and two were wounded as a result of a roadside bomb attack in the city, a military spokesman announced. No further details were available.
Barbash reported from Washington.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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